


A Leaf Falls

by Whilhelmina_Prince



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Fluff, M/M, college rhink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 08:01:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8437762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whilhelmina_Prince/pseuds/Whilhelmina_Prince
Summary: Link waits for Rhett in the park





	

Link sat on a bench, his hands folded in his lap, in the nearly empty park. A few joggers passed by, but with the increasing chill in the air and the drizzle beginning to change to a steady rain, there were no children or families playing. Link put up the hood of his sweatshirt and wrapped his arms around his body.

Rhett wasn’t coming. Link was sure of it. If he was coming, he would already be there, occupying the empty space, warming the air around them.

A leaf fluttered from a nearby tree and landed on the bench next to Link. It got stuck between the slats and fluttered in the breeze

“A leaf falls …” Link said out loud. He vaguely remembered the strange poem with the letters going down the page vertically, falling like a leaf, spelling out the word “loneliness.”

He couldn’t remember exactly how it went or who wrote it, but it was accurate. Rhett wasn’t coming, and Link was left with a leaf and his loneliness.

He picked up the leaf and twirled it between his fingers, letting the raindrops fly, not caring when they landed on his glasses, obscuring his vision. 

He held the leaf flat on his palm and blew it softly. It gently drifted away, but then got caught under the raindrops and fell, landing at Link’s feet. 

Rhett wasn’t coming. 

The rain was coming down in torrents now, and Link was soaked to the bone. He stood and took a few steps forward and then looked back toward the bench where they were supposed to meet.

It was supposed to be their first date. The first time they went out in public. Rhett had planned everything and told Link to meet him here at the bench where Link had first admitted that his feelings for Rhett went beyond their friendship. 

But this was North Carolina, and two college boys going on a date wasn’t exactly going to be smiled upon. Rhett must have gotten scared and backed out. Link couldn’t blame him.

Rhett wasn’t coming, and Link’s heart was breaking. 

He started to walk down the path, away from the bench, away from the hope that he and Rhett had something together, something that meant something.

And then a voice pierced through the din of the wind and the rain.

“Link!”

Link stopped in his tracks. 

“Link, wait!”

He turned, and there, running through the rain with a huge umbrella over his head, was Rhett, his long legs hopping over puddles along the path.

“Where are you going?” he asked as he finally approached Link. He held the umbrella over Link’s head.

Link looked up at his tall friend, his Rhett. “I didn’t think you were coming.” Tears were forming in his eyes, and he was glad his glasses were foggy and wet so Rhett wouldn’t see.

“Not coming?” Rhett looked almost hurt. “Man, I got a flat tire. I wouldn’t have stood you up.”

“No?”

“I will never leave you alone, Link.”

Rhett wrapped an arm around Link’s waist and pulled him close, kissing him gently, but deeply on the lips. Link melted into Rhett, warmed by his body heat despite his soaked clothing.

Rhett pulled away, but only by an inch. “I guess my picnic plans are ruined.”

“That’s what you were planning?” Link pictured them laughing under the autumn sky and feeding each other little bites of food. 

Rhett nodded. “The weather was supposed to be perfect for it. And I figured this was as public as it could get. I wanted everyone to see.”

Link blushed. “That would’ve been nice.”

“You’re shivering,” Rhett said, looking Link up and down. He took Link’s glasses and dried them on his shirt and carefully replaced them. “Why don’t we go back to the dorm and get you some dry clothes?”

“And then what?”

Rhett shrugged. “Coffee? Movie?”

“Both?”

“As long as it’s with you.”

Hand in hand, sharing the space under the umbrella, the two men walked back to Rhett’s car, leaving the leaf, and loneliness, behind.


End file.
